I’m going to shake things up a bit. So far, the majority of blogs have been focused around the idea of beneficial folk knowledge—but what about knowledge that harms society? What about the knowledge of secret combinations that have been the responsible for the downfall of civilizations?
The roots of murder date all the way back to the beginning with Cain, who swore oaths with Satan in secret. He became the Son of Perdition and the original source of human malevolence. Committing crime and sin, unfortunately, comprise most of we deem the natural man.
In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites uncovered the ancient records of a people called the Jaredites. As these records were studied and published throughout Zarahemla, a certain knowledge described as "secret combinations" became available to the people. Eventually, Nephite sects such as the Zoramites and Amalekites adopted these evil traditions and passed them down from generation to generation even to the point that they fall from God's grace. The prophet Alma then implored his son Helaman to “retain all their oaths and…secret abominations; yea all their signs and their wonders ye shall keep from this people” due to his fear that such knowledge could be detrimental to the progression and righteousness of the Nephite civilization (Alma 37:27).
So I raise the question, is there knowledge out there that needs to b
e kept out of education systems? Should we cease to teach about Nazi Germany, Mafia designs, or methods of torture and death? After all, such knowledge passed down could potentially lead an individual to carry on those terrible traditions, as Alma once feared. Or perhaps, knowledge such as murder, totalitarianism, and gang organizations are things that exist in the hearts of mankind regardless of what parents and teachers pass on to the rising generation.
Ok one more thing I forgot to mention. In my high school district we have this class called American Problems. Basically in this class the students have the opportunity to reenact a Totalitarian society. Individual freedoms are stripped, and the students have conform to a single inner party and also worship a single dictator. Should seem harmless right? However, there was an incident at another school where one student dressed in a white pillowcase and shouted racist comments a school assembly. There was an uproar, the NAACP got involved and the class almost got discontinued. I bring this up because the controversy of teaching awareness, but also how knowledge of evil can inspire terror as well.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of a book called "The Wave," that we read in my eighth grade English class. Todd Strasser wrote about an actual event that occurred in a Palo Alto high school. In the book, a professor wanted to show his students how easy it would have been to get caught up in Nazi Germany and not be able to stop the movement, that they should maybe sympathize with the people who didn't stand up against it. He has the students create a club that makes them feel unified, but when people don't want to join, they get attacked, and he eventually realizes the effect of what he's done, and has to try to stop it.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I think there will be people doing what's wrong no matter what, just because we have our agency, but maybe it is an encouragement to people who might otherwise keep their violence unorganized to have a template to follow.
If we don't learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it. We need to learn about things like this from the perspective of knowing the evil, terror and general misery they brought so we will be able to recognize them in the present and future and stop them before they reach a point like the holocaust or something terrible like that.
ReplyDeleteI loved the topic of this post as there are many types of destructive folk knowledge that have been passed down through the years. These are passed down through families, as in The Book of Mormon, or through cultures, as in the case of slavery. Author Jane Addams wrote a book entitled "A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil" about the very institution of slavery. (It can be found here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15221/15221-h/15221-h.htm) She says that only very recently have we come to the knowledge that such an act is wrong. It took a change in our culture, in our collective thinking.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to the question you raise, I would agree with Dane that it is necessary to educate about these dark and evil issue, to let students know the great destruction these traditions had on millions of lives. If we do not educate about these issues then they will never be solved, as Addams brings up.
Ok, yeah of course we should learn about evil ways in an educational setting to increase awareness. But what about families or secret societies who hand down dark secrets and practices to their children? I guess we all have our free agency, but its just interesting to think about how knowledge and motives to do evil must come from an original source apart from ourselves. That source is determined by who we associate with whether it be family or friends.
ReplyDelete